toussaint trilogy part trois - The Return of the Students

1 November (Thursday)
We resumed our epic journey today after all the trick o' treating the night before. Similar to Halloween; Today was All Saints' Day but no saints came marching in. Rather unfortunate, as I would have loved to ask Saint Peter if I was going to Heaven or Hell. But I guess we all know the answer.. =P

Since it looked like saintly magic was not going to be the order of the day, we decided to see some other grandeur of the more-human kind. First off, we headed to the Spanish Royal Palace. Same ol' assortment of opulence and extravagance like the ones in many other countries with a monarchy, but with a Spanish flavor. Went in, took the obligatory photos (photos not allowed), and headed out. The sun was out in full blast, and it was much more pleasant (for me) to be out in the open.

spandau palace

magnificent views from the inside

even better views

After the morning's royal visit we cut to the chase and after picnicking at the royal garden (where else? =P), we headed to Casa de Campo, situated on the outskirts of Madrid. It was quite far away from central Madrid and we so took a cable car there. I love cable car rides.. The feeling of floating in the skies is just amazing! Anyway the ride took about 11 minutes and it we could see for miles up in our tiny cabin. Simply lovely.

When we got to the park we saw many people just basking around in the sun and I had to resist the urge to just plant my ass down on the grass right there and then; Andi had other plans for us to get to the lake. So we all hiked down to Lagos, which means lake in Spanish, and which is also the name of the lake. How creative.. Almost reminds me of the budget terminal in Singapore! Haha. Anyway we chanced upon some Hispanic community, and as if God wanted to show us that He exists, they were having some sort of pasar malam there and they were selling the best suckling pork in the world. There were other makeshift stalls there with people giving haircuts and selling pirated DVDs (in Spanish unfortunately) but we were happy just to partake in their food. I am sure that the other three, especially Sinhui, would agree with me as well since someone actually made another trip down just to get another portion! What a gourmand(e)! =D As for me, I was just quite content to just lie down and watch life go by, until the sun set, and everything faded into darkness.

lunchtime.. what were you thinking of?

cable cars similar to the old ones at sentosa

blue skies partout

aforementioned dish

fade to black

2 November (Friday)

Last day in Spain; The journey had been long but it was not over yet; We had yet to confront Sauron!!! Haha. Anyway we visited the Reina Sofia Museum. Far from having any connections with Claudio Reina or Sofia Coppola, it is used to house the famous artworks of Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, both of whom need no further introduction, amongst others. The art pieces were very intriguing, in particular (for me) The Great Masturbator. =P I also liked l'Âge d'Or, a film which was screened as part of the museum's surrealistic collection. Its themes of sexual love and death both fascinated and disturbed me at the same time. Watching the film really felt like probing the mind of a mad man!

reina sofia

P3C beds anyone?

The morning had been weird and morbid enough, thus I was happy to head out into the bright sunny Spanish arvo. We went to another park: the Parque del Buen Retiro, and for the first time the plan was just to chill out in the sun for the entire afternoon! Yaay!!! Like I said, the weather was really good in Spain and I was determined to exploit it to the maximum before returning back to cold and gloomy Grenoble. And so I drowned in the sunshine at Retiro..

Until my growling stomach woke me up. So Letch and me headed for tapas while Andi and Sinhui went to the Prado museum. Heh.. I am not such an arts buff lah. Neither was Letch! In fact she didn't go into the Reina Sofia as well! But that was for other reasons (ask her yourself) lah.. Haha. Thus, we spent the rest of the night just eating, shopping and eating some more again.

Ah.. C'est vraiment les vacances! =)

la sieste d'Espagne

trying my hand at rowing

letch.. photowhoring as usual

andi + sinhui

row, row, row your boat gently down the stream

iberan ham

churros + hot chocolate!

range of tapas at a tapas bar

3 November (Saturday)

Woke up early in the morning to catch the flight back to Geneva. Had some time to spare in Geneva so once again I tried to go for the guided tour at the UN Headquarters, since that I had just seen for myself the opening hours a week ago (1000-1200, 1400-1600, Monday to Sunday). But when I got to the gate, it was closed once again! And the signboard proudly displayed:

open my ass!!!

UN YOU OWE ME 3 HOURS OF MY LIFE FOR THE 3 WASTED TRIPS WHICH I MADE SINCE DOWN TO YOUR HQ!!! Damn.. Why don't you stick to your operating hours? What must I go before I can go for your guided tour?!

Bah. Maybe next time I should make a reservation first before going down.. And the guided tour better be good! o_O|||

In any case I headed back to the train station to catch my train (which came on time as usual) back to Grenoble. UN CAN YOU PLEASE TAKE SOME LESSONS FROM SNCF. AT LEAST THEY HAVE ADVANCE NOTICES WHEN THEY GO ON STRIKE!!! Haha.. I just can't stop!!!

Looks like I have a score still to be settled with the UN. =P

Anyway back to the Toussaint Trilogy: It was supposed to be one trip to relax us all but it became one trip which bound us all! As in friendship, not bondage.. Haha. =D Anyway thanks to you three for letting me tag along and putting up with me; I know that I can be a difficult travel companion at times, but if we do this ever again can we have more eating and less walking? Please? =D